Little did we know that today, 5 years ago,  all Frederick County Schools would be directed to close all Maryland schools for two entire weeks.

We didn’t know that it would be the end of our in person learning for three whole years until the pandemic would be declared: over.

Although it’s been 5 long years since the Covid-19 outbreak happened, it is still an unmemorable experience for several students who attended school online during the pandemic, and yet it still resonates an impact within students today.

The Sudden Change to Learning

The Covid-19 pandemic brought an immense amount of changes to the education system in the year of 2020. As K-12 schools, as well as colleges, were announced to shut down due to the fact that the infectious disease was being spread around among teachers and students, causing changes in the education system for classes to be mandated to go virtual.

This sudden change from in person learning to virtual learning caused many struggles towards students causing them to slack in school and not engage in many lessons during virtual learning like Kaylyn Keller, a seventh grader at the start of the school closure, now a Brunswick senior, says, “Oh, my god, I hated it.”

Regardless of how many students were disinterested in virtual learning, hybrid learning introduced new ways of learning and also new various ways to connect with peers. It allowed students to have a flexible environment between home and school. 

The Overcoming Challenges of Virtual and Hybrid Learning

During virtual learning students faced numerous challenges caused by the transition from in person learning to online learning. Students had to choose between the option of participating in hybrid learning which allowed students to have a flexible schedule between various days of the week to do in person learning then back to virtual learning the rest of the week. Many students struggled to connect to Wi-Fi and had to find the needed devices until some of the schools offered the needed devices and Wi-Fi. Then students had to try to engage and stay attentive in class, something like Lucy Caulton, a sixth grader at the start of the school closure but now a sophomore at Brunswick High, says she struggles with, “I played the two same games on repeat… I think I went insane and I kept eating frozen chicken nuggets, every day.”

Virtual Learning was hard for the majority of students and teachers; especially since students had multiple distractions at home and didn’t have access to face to face learning, some students didn’t even bother to show up to their classes. 

The Lasting Effects on Students Post-Pandemic

The pandemic affected students from K-12 in many ways mentally, physically, and emotionally, students also struggled to focus their own academics. Many students struggled mentally and physically at home while virtual learning was going on, especially adjusting to the new learning environment from school to home. Since students did not have the option to do in person learning, social interactions were slim to none. According to the National Institute of Health, “Children receiving remote and hybrid instruction were reported to have more difficulties compared to children receiving in-person instruction.”  Despite all the struggles students faced during virtual learning they still keep thriving after surpassing the hardships of virtual learning.